Conformity to the World

by Edward Hoare

(6.) But there is another point in which our blessed Saviour has marked the contrast between the two classes still more clearly, viz., this, The world does not love Christ or His people. I know that the first impression produced on many minds by such a statement would be that there is not this antipathy in our own times. There is so much kindliness of heart amongst worldly people, and in many cases they show so much friendliness, that it is difficult to realise this hostility. But our Lord distinctly declares it, and all His words are true. In John, xv. 18, 19, He says, ‘If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.’ So again (John, xvii. 14), ‘I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.’ So St. John echoes His Master’s words, and says (1 John, iii. 13, 14), ‘Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you: we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.’ In all these passages there is the contrast clearly marked between the world and those whom God has called out of it to be a separate people unto Himself; a contrast so marked that it produces enmity on the part of the world towards the separated people. But still, as I have already said, there are multitudes of professing Christians who are ready to deny the existence of any such enmity, and most of ourselves have frequently met with generosity and kindness from those who we cannot but fear are still people of the world. How then are we to explain this apparent difference between Scripture and experience? How is it that we do not find a greater hostility on the part of the world towards the people of God? Of course the testimony of God’s Word must be true, and the explanation must be sought for in ourselves. I would suggest to those brethren who think they see a difficulty, three inquiries which may perhaps remove it.

(1.) Do we not sometimes mistake conformity to the externals of the Gospel for love to Christ? In a Christian country like this, the most thoroughly worldly persons are induced, by their sense of respectability, to conform to the visible practices of Christianity; but it does not follow on that account, that the real enmity of the human heart towards a blessed Saviour is removed, or that the offence of the cross has ceased.

(2.) Do we not sometimes mistake personal regard to ourselves, for a love to the people of God? Men of the world have strong natural affections, and those natural affections may happen to be fixed on the children of God; but it does not follow on that account, that they love either Christ or His people.

(3.) Are the people of God thoroughly faithful in their intercourse with the world? Is not an exhibition of the Lord Jesus Christ so greatly modified in many cases, that the world is never brought into collision with the high standard held up by Him? If our Gospel is softened down to meet the world’s mind, of course it will excite no hostility; and I cannot but fear, that the friendship we so often meet with in the world, may arise from our taking low ground ourselves, and not really shining forth as lights in the world, or exhibiting with sufficient clearness the holy character to which Christ has called His people.

But without stopping to dwell on these causes for the absence of the apparent enmity, we must, I think, all admit the clear contrast drawn in Scripture between the world and the people of God; and must conclude, that in the various passages referred to ‘the world’ includes all those who are not in Him, as contrasted with those that are. There are two classes, with a clear line between them—the world and the people of God; the world consisting of those who are not in Christ; and the people of God, of those who are given to Him, called by Him, justified in Him, born again through His Spirit, and preserved in Him as vessels for His glory. Thus the world is not limited to profligate or notorious offenders, but includes all those who are strangers to the covenant of God in Christ Jesus. The world might almost be reckoned as a middle class between the profligate and the people of God; a class having great charms, and many excellencies; a class having a wisdom of its own, exceeding, so far as this life is concerned, that of the children of light; a class including amiable men, moral men, influential men, and intellectual men; including the refined, as well as the unrefined—the gentleman, the statesman, the philosopher, and, I must add, even the clergyman, provided only that one thing is wanting, that one thing being a living union with Christ Jesus the Lord.

CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD.

From this account of the world, we may proceed to examine what is meant by conformity to it; and in this examination we must begin with general principles.

General Principles.

(1.) Conformity to the world is quite distinct from immorality.

It is a very common thing for persons to say that there is no harm in such or such an amusement; by which they mean that there is no profligacy. But conformity to the world is a totally different thing to profligacy; and though there is no profligacy, there may be the most thoroughgoing worldliness. The world, in many cases, condemns open vice as much as the people of God do. It is most unjust in its sentence; as, for example, when it brands the poor woman with infamy, and admits her abominable betrayer into the unrestrained enjoyment of society. But in many cases it is extremely severe, and it would not be just, or true, to identify it with debauchery or low-lived habits. It is altogether far more refined in its character; and though it may be perfectly true of a young man that he is quite steady, and free from low vice, it may be equally true that there is no love of the Lord Jesus in his heart, and that he belongs entirely to those described by the Psalmist, ‘the men of the world, who have their portion in this life.’ It may be quite impossible to lay your hand upon any one thing that he does, and pronounce it immoral; but equally impossible to discover in him anything that savours of the things which be of God, or that proves him one of those whose conversation is in heaven.